you'll feel better if you shut your eyes

If you're trying carefully to use your fingertips' sense of touch – whether to feel a biological specimen, or a produce item, or to seat a small screw in a machine – you'll do better if you close your eyes.

I learned this in ninth grade biology class in Clifton, NJ, from Mrs. Toth, who taught us how to feel a piece of fish.

The other thing I learned in ninth grade in Clifton was how to type. Lunch was a half-period; typing was something you could do instead of "study hall" for the other half-period. The typing room had student typewriters which were not just manual but blank. All of the keys were blank. There was a typing keyboard chart at the head of the room that was rolled up for tests.

So, you could say that in ninth grade in Clifton I learned a couple of things to do with my fingers.